


Kindness Between Strangeness

by Raaj



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2013-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 07:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Red XIII remains uncertain he can trust humans outside Cosmo Canyon.  But Aerith is not quite human, and the upset that causes her makes him anxious to comfort her; and, not quite human, perhaps she understands him better than he thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kindness Between Strangeness

Nanaki’s flaming tail swished back and forth contemptuously as he padded down the hall of Costa Del Sol’s inn. He was in something of a mood after the resort town children had swarmed him and put their hands all over him like he was a common dog, and after he’d found some quiet shade to doze through the powerful heat, he’d been rudely awakened by a soccer ball to the side, kicked by of all people _Cloud_. If he had been such an elite warrior of Shinra, shouldn’t he have more coordination? It was hard to believe that had been an accident.  
  
Those two things were trivial to the scent of that scientist lingering in his nose, though. When he’d first tracked the smell to the beach, the lion-like beast had earnestly contemplated finishing what he’d started in that detestable lab. Cloud seemed to have much the same thought, reaching for the handle of his sword. But they’d needed more information from him, as Aerith had pointed out, and then the moment had passed and they both became aware again of how many bystanders and witnesses were present on the beach; Professor Hojo continued to live. An unsatisfying outcome for all other parties.  
  
Including Aerith, it seemed. Nanaki’s ears pricked up and turned toward the gusty sigh she let out from within her room; she apparently had company, as she began to talk, though quietly and lacking her usual energy. “There’s so many things I don’t understand… I feel a little uneasy. Cloud…? What do you think of me?”  
  
Nanaki’s tail flicked once in the space it took for their leader to form his response, inadequate from the first word: “Sorry. I never thought about things like that.”  
  
The appendage flattened, pointing straight to the ground, when the young woman who could not be dissuaded from patting his nose and trying to draw him into frivolous talk exploded with rage. “How could you say such a thing! Sometimes you make me so mad! Oh, I never should have brought this up!”  
  
“A, aerith—”  
  
“I don’t want to talk about it!”  
  
No. That wasn’t truly rage, Nanaki decided. _Upset._ He’d been paid little mind by the scientist, which suited him just fine, but Aerith had been directly approached with a curiosity both impersonal and probing. She’d come back with her own questions to Hojo, but her discomfort had been obvious. Nanaki had thought so, at any rate. Perhaps his awareness was due to the circumstances of how he’d met the woman, a fellow lab specimen.  
  
…That encounter… It was still a matter he felt some guilt for, much as the ‘savage’ act had seemed necessary at the time.  
  
The door to the room opened; Nanaki straightened his ears, mindful not to let his mild eavesdropping be observed. It wasn’t as though he could help hearing what people said when they were so often loud and overbearing. It was Cloud who emerged, looking frustrated—with himself or with Aerith? And how must she be feeling? After some quick seconds of consideration, Nanaki folded his ears back, lashing his tail against the ground to give the impression of agitation.  
  
It worked. The young man held up his hands in surrender. “I told you, Red, that was an accident.” More importantly, he was fast to get out of the doorway. Few would be eager to be stuck in between two people angry at them.  
  
Perhaps Cloud would remember to look where he was aiming things from now on. He was not all that bad for a human, if somewhat…odd. For any manner of creature. And unfortunately oblivious at times. He was not the focus of Nanaki’s concern, at any rate, and the beast padded into the room, subtly striking his rear paw against the door to make it swing shut. Aerith looked as though she needed privacy, as small as he’d ever seen her with her shoulders slumped like that, and obviously a bit distracted and surprised when it took the click of the door to alert her to his entrance.  
  
Nanaki was aware that to most humans, he didn’t really count as an intrusive presence. If he wasn’t a beast, he was an animal to them; a dog to be petted, or an overgrown cat to be scratched behind the ears. Aerith could have her privacy still, without having to be alone. But he needed an excuse for being in here. “The heat and sun here are tiring,” he announced, and asked, “You’re resting as well?” He surveyed a spot of floor by one of the empty beds, the wood of the floorboards just comfortably warmed by the sun’s rays, but moved on.  
  
“Yeah, I’m tired too,” she answered with a wan smile. “It’ll be nice and quiet in here, don’t worry.”  
  
 _Until Yuffie comes_ was the understood caveat, but with the teenager having taken an interest in the local materia shop, she could be trusted not to come back until the evening. “Good,” he said, and rejected another sleeping spot, and laid himself down at the side of her bed, the spot he’d intended all along. Surprisingly, Aerith didn’t take the opportunity to pet him when he was in such easy reach. Rather she giggled. His right ear twitched. “What is it?”  
  
“Oh… sorry. It’s just, you’re so funny sometimes, Red.”  
  
Perhaps he had been too transparent in his actions? No, she probably had just found some little thing amusing. He didn’t have to confess to his intentions. His good eye remained closed. “Hmph.”  
  
“Right, quiet time.” There was a rustle of blankets as Aerith discarded her boots and then swung her legs up into the bed. A pillow was fluffed. And then, after a moment of silence, she turned onto her side. Nanaki felt the hesitating brush of fingers against his head; they smelled strongly of saltwater from the beach. He remained still. Let her think he was already asleep, or near enough to not notice. Seconds passed, and she gained confidence: the brush turned into a gentle, rhythmic stroke through his thick mane. A comforting touch for both of them, and yet Nanaki felt a little lonely even as he was satisfied he could give her some comfort. Aerith paid him the most attention, but even then it was as a human would a pet. She didn’t seem to truly see him as an equal. And what did it make him, that he’d become willing to play the pet?  
  
“Thank you, Red.” Only a soft whisper, but his ears could not have missed it. The gratitude made him a little anxious; he did not want to acknowledge he was keeping her company out of concern. He was not supposed to become close to these humans. He could not afford to rely on them. When she sighed, it felt like she was trying to dispel the tension in both their bodies. “I wish you’d tell us your real name.”  
  
…That wish made him uneasy. There was a reason they did not know he was Nanaki. It bothered him enough that finally he had to drop the guise of sleep and answer her. “It’s not important.”  
  
“Mm. ‘Red XIII’ is a name that means nothing to you,” she agreed after a pause. He thought that would be the end of it, but then she asked: “So we can’t really say we know you, can we?”  
  
His eye opened a slit, though he did not look at her. She was a little too on the mark. He wanted that distance; even with it, he’d become too comfortable with this group. For all of Cloud’s oddness or Yuffie and Barret’s boisterousness or Tifa’s uncertainty about how to treat him, he knew he could trust them as fellow warriors.  
  
He also knew the last time he had come to trust humans from outside the canyon, he had ended up in that hateful lab, with that vile man. He checked his tail and held it still before it could give his discomfort away, but then his front paws stretched out along the floor, looking for something to knead. He stopped that, too, as soon as he registered his claws unsheathing reflexively, and tucked his paws under his head.  Something deep inside had quivered just now, and he hoped to hold it still.  He needed to stay controlled.  
  
“Red?” Aerith sounded concerned now. “It’s all right. You don’t have to tell us.”  
  
Perhaps all along she’d been paying more consideration to his words and actions than he’d believed, masked by the illusion of playfulness. He wanted to ask why she believed the matter of names was so important, but that had been answered back on the beach. The professor had never deigned to remember her real name either.  Humans seldom seemed to realize the importance of names, having always been allowed their rightful ones.   But the woman beside him was not fully human, and like him had been mistreated for the difference.  “You’ll learn it when we arrive at my home,” he answered her finally. A warrior’s promise: he would make sure to tell her himself, if none of the residents used it beforehand. “We’re closer, now. It’s on this continent.” Still much too far away for his weary heart. But Red XIII could be stoic and unmoved when Nanaki was tired and lonely and felt the coward’s son. Another aspect of names. Change yours, and you could assume the identity you needed… outwardly, at least. Then he thought of something that might interest Aerith even more. “My grandpa is one of the most knowledgeable elders of the canyon. They all have studied about the life of the Planet… perhaps one of them might know about the Ancients, to answer your questions about your people.” At last, he glanced at her with his eye.  
  
She still looked a bit tired, but the smile had come back to her lips, and she no longer looked so delicately small. “I’m really looking forward to getting there now,” she said. “For both those things. And to talk to your grandpa about other stuff, too. I’ll have to tell him what a kind boy you are.”  
  
Nanaki’s ears flattened before he could even catch himself, and he started to rise off of his belly. He hadn’t even considered that possibility, and now he could only imagine Aerith telling his amused grandfather how nice he was to pet. “Please don’t. I’m nothing of the sort.”  He wanted to return home a proud warrior.  And it would be mortifying. “Kind boy”—perhaps she didn’t think of him as a pet. In fact, it now seemed likely that she had realized he was not yet reckoned as the adult he was trying so hard to be.  
  
He couldn’t be sure that was better.  
  
She laughed a little, but then she earnestly leaned off the side of the bed, closer to him. “You are very kind, though. How about I tell him about all the monsters you’ve fended off for me?”  
  
…That would be more along the lines of what he wanted to reach Grandpa’s ears, though he couldn’t be sure if Aerith was teasing or not; it was hardly as though he’d saved her countless times, or that she hadn’t saved him in turn. “Simply tell him the truth,” he sniffed, lying back down and firmly closing his eyes.  
  
“Okay,” she said. Her hand came down to pat his nose, warm and soft. “I’ll just leave out this part.”  
  
That was agreeable to him, and he let her continue.

**Author's Note:**

> That Nanaki never gives the group his real name is especially interesting to me after the novellas make names important to him (he gets huffy that Yuffie still calls him "Red" and, uh... gives his issues names, hi "Gilligan"). His behavior changes once they get to Cosmo Canyon, too; he seems a lot more like the 16-year-old he is developmentally. So it's interesting to think he probably wasn't completely comfortable with the group even after they'd been together a while until they've actually helped him get home, and not exactly surprising given his capture as a lab specimen. Hojo has a way of being awful.


End file.
